Cardiff Rivers Group plea – stop using toilets as a wet bin!

20 Volunteers from Cardiff Rivers Group continued to improve the rivers of Cardiff on Sunday as they cleansed the riverbanks in Llandaff. See pics here

Volunteers basked in the glorious sunshine as they as they painstakingly collected rubbish that had been brought downstream in the winter floods and caught up in the overhanging branches.

Together they collected 28 bags of rubbish (most of which was sanitary waste!), 2 trolleys, 4 bikes, kids car seat, moped and engine, remains of an oil drum, gas canister, metal dustbin and a car wheel and tyre. All rubbish was disposed of by Cardiff County Council’s Parks Department.

Louise Tambini, of Cardiff Rivers Group said, “This part of the River Taff suffers from what we call the ‘Christmas tree’ effect. When the river runs high, lots of items, especially plastic, gets stuck in the bankside vegetation which makes the area look very unsightly indeed. To remove this trapped litter is a painstaking task as each piece has to individually removed”.

“Unfortunately much of the rubbish is sanitary waste that has been flushed down the toilet. This could be easily prevented if people simply stopped using their toilet as wet bin. Cardiff Rivers Group would like to make a plea to people to ‘bag it and bin it’ – don’t flush it!! Dwr Cymru Welsh Water runs the ‘Dirty Dozen’ campaign which highlights the things we should NOT flush. It would be great if people could help spread this message”, she added.

Cardiff Rivers Group formed in 2009 as part of the ‘Tidy Towns’ project: a partnership between Keep Wales Tidy and Welsh local authorities. Funded by the Welsh Government it supports the people of Wales to improve the quality of their local environment.